


Backbone

by malintatherian



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Alcohol, Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Angst, F/F, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, POV Second Person, Reader Is Not Frisk, Sans Has Night Terrors, Soul Bond, reader is female
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-03-04
Updated: 2016-03-04
Packaged: 2018-05-24 18:18:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,657
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6162356
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/malintatherian/pseuds/malintatherian
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Monsters are moving into your apartment building. You have few friends, maybe they will accept you for who you are, your past, and maybe help you get a fresh start in life. One of your new neighbors is having a rough time adjusting, and you are determined to help him get settled.</p><p>(new title/update coming soon!)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Rough Introductions

You opened the letter that was tucked in an envelope, the label indicating it was from your landlord. You skimmed through it, but from what you could tell, it seemed your landlord was going to be renting out a few units to the monsters who had recently come out of the Underground. They had been in a community shelter for a while, but we more coming each day, and many of them finding work, the government would provide taxbreaks to buildings that took them in. The town wasn’t doing quite well financially, despite the local college bringing in some money, but you were excited to see the unit across the hall from you would finally be occupied. It would be nice to have some fresh faces in the building.

            You pinned the letter up on your corkboard in the kitchen, and then put a kettle on for tea. You got home pretty late from work, and had forgotten to pack a lunch today, but tea would suffice until the morning when you had a day off. You filled the red kettle up to the top and cranked up the front-left burner. You got out a mug with a cute kitten on it, and browsed through the tea. _Early grey…Irish Breakfast…raspberry rooibos?_ You grabbed the last one from the shelf and placed a few scoops into an infuser, and then threw yourself onto the couch, exhausted.

            You worked at Ebott College; it was a small liberal arts school, renowned as a party school in the area, but it paid pretty well. You worked weekdays at the campus library, and some weekends when the students had finals. It wasn’t a bad job, especially considering you had been a student there just two years ago. Your professors wrote good recommendations when you applied for a promotion after being a student worker for a few years, and you never did have a plan after graduation. You liked the town, and already had an apartment thanks to your ex-boyfriend, so you decided to see where it took you…

            Your ex was horrible. Very needy for sex, guilted you into doing things you didn’t want to do, convinced you to move off-campus because it would be easier for you two to have alone time; he was quite surprised when you finally broke up with him. He followed you around for a few months, but he had finally given up and was dating another girl he met from work. Good riddance.

            You listened to the cars zipping by and the occasional sirens of emergency vehicles, until the loud whistle of the kettle snapped you out of thought. You leaned up, and went over to the kitchen to pour yourself some tea, and then snuggled up on your bed with you laptop, watching kids movies until you passed out.

 

           

You woke up way earlier than you want to for a weekend. It was a miracle you slept through the night as it way, you just wanted to stay in bed all day. You gave in to the nagging voice in the back of your head to get up, bringing your mug with you to put in the sink.

After a quick shower, you changed into some sweatpants and a t-shirt while you cleaned the apartment a little. You realized that if you really wanted to meet the new neighbors, your place should be a little more presentable. You ate a bagel and made some coffee, and pulled out your computer so you could work on a few administrative projects for the library.

It was a little after 1pm when you shuffling and talking in the hallway, it sounded like they were busily moving boxes, but you wanted to peak and see who your new neighbors were.

Oh. Goodness…Skeletons?

Two very different looking skeletons were lugging large boxes into the two-bedroom apartment across the hallway from you. One was taller, very tall, with a red scarf, and was chatting very loudly. The other one was shorter, about your height, with a blue hoodie and a deep voice. You knew monsters came in as many varieties as humans, but… this would be a new experience indeed.

You heard them drop off a few boxes and discuss the last few boxes in the truck. You unlocked the deadbolt of your door and stepped out. “Hello?”

Both of them turned their heads away from their conversation, and the taller one smiled. “HELLO, NEIGHBOR!” he stepped just outside the doorframe to their apartment. “I AM THE GREAT PAPYRUS!”

You nervously gave a little wave, “Hi, I’m ________. Do you need help moving the rest of your stuff upstairs?”

The shorter one stepped out as well, and leaned against their door. “If you’d like, there isn’t a whole lot left. What do you say, Paps?”

“I THINK IF SHE HELPS, IT WILL BE OUR LAST TRIP TO THE TRUCK! THEN, WE CAN HELP TORIEL MOVE IN DOWNSTAIRS!” Papyrus smiled jovially and marched toward the stairs.

Sans shook his head, and closed their door, locking it. “You don’t have to help us move our friend in, but uh…” he shrugged, “she has a kid, so it’d be a great help.”

You grabbed your lanyard with your keys, and locked your own door. “I’d be happy too!” You smiled as you followed him to the stairs.

As the two of your made your way down from the third floor, the shorter skeleton turned to look at you, “My name is Sans, by the way.”

You smiled, “that’s a really nice name. I don’t know why, but it suits you…”

“Heh, yeah, I suppose.” He went quiet for a moment, and his grin began to drop. “Say…some humans aren’t quite pleased with monsters coming here. I am pretty worried about my brother and our friends. So,” He stopped and looked up from the landing before the last set of stairs. “If you have some bad intentions, friend, you better back off now.” You swore you saw his eyes flicker.

You stopped a few steps up from him; a little petrified. “I…I promise I am not one of those humans. You all deserve freedom, and much more after what was done to you.” You looked down at your feet; you could tell that answer wasn’t enough for him. “I really don’t have a lot of friends outside of work… and when our landlord said that monsters would be moving in, I was really excited for a fresh start…” You frowned, and closed your eyes, took a deep breath, and looked back up with him. “I’m sorry…I…I sincerely do want to be friends, and I know it’ll take more than just doing a few favors like helping you all move in…” you cheeks were flushed and hot as all your thoughts started to spill out. You stopped yourself, knowing you were just working yourself up, and exhaled; you were so embarrassed. “I’m sorry, if you don’t want me to I’ll go back up…”

Sans had his hands up, the palms of his hands facing you, and smiled a little nervously. “Hey, it’s all right…I’m sorry, I’m just a little protective.” His hands dropped to his hips, and he tilted his head toward the door from the stairs to the front entrance, “I’m sure they are wondering where we are.” You noticed he was changing the subject abruptly, he hadn’t meant to come off so harsh.

You nodded, and followed him outside to the curb. Next to the truck, you saw a Papyrus with a small human child, and a large, fuzzy woman who vaguely reminded you of a goat.

“Ahhh, you must be _____, Papyrus said you have offered to help us move in. Thank you, my child!” The goat woman’s voice was warm and soothing, ‘I am Toriel, I am opening a small school for monster children on the surface, although I am hoping human children besides my own Frisk will also attend.” You turned and looked at the child that was playing with Papyrus. “Frisk fell into the Underground and helped us get through the barrier. They may be young, but they have a good soul.”

Souls…magic and soul power had been depleting, with only a few unlocking their soul’s true potential. Your little brother’s had been yellow…and he disappeared just after the two of you moved to different foster homes. You thought yours might have been green, but you weren’t sure. For some humans, the color changes during puberty, but you hadn’t cared since then.

You followed the goat woman and Sans to the truck, and loaded up a few boxes onto a trolley cart. Luckily the building had an elevator, but it was quite slow. Papyrus, too distracted with Frisk, only carried up small boxes and had Frisk on his shoulders. After a few hours, they finally had everything in their apartment. Toriel and Frisk’s was a little bigger than the unit the two skeleton brothers had, but it made sense considering Frisk was a very energetic and playful child. You helped Toriel unpack dishes and cookware into the kitchen. The landlord had the unit cleaned up nicely for their arrival, so that saved a lot of time.

“Hey Tori, it looks like some of the furniture for your room hasn’t come yet, I’ll just leave your boxes as they are.” Sans said, leaning into the kitchen from her bedroom.

“Ahh, that is quite all right, Sans. Would you mind helping Frisk make their bed?” She asked, smiling sweetly. Sans nodded, and approached where Papyrus and Frisk were playing in the living room. Without saying a word, he picked Frisk up, with Papyrus close behind. Frisk wiggled and giggled, and the three of them chased each other into the child’s bedroom.

“I really do appreciate all of your help, _____. Perhaps you would like to stay for dinner?”

“Oh! I was actually going to offer to make dinner for you, since you just moved and all…”

“Nonsense! You didn’t need to help us move, it’s the least we can do. Besides, I’m making my famous butterscotch pie later, and I insist you have a slice.” She winked at you, as she finished organizing silverware into a drawer.

You felt kinda guilty, but wouldn’t pass up the opportunity of eating someone else’s cooking. You weren’t a bad cook, but you hadn’t really wanted to experiment with new recipes recently.

You helped Toriel prepare some lasagna, since Papyrus insisted on something with pasta, and once the final layer was added, Toriel put it in the oven. She faced the stove, and closed her eyes. Small flecks of fire starts to burst from her hands, and you heard the stove crackle inside; your mouth dropped, but you quickly shut it so as not to be rude.

“I had my old stove brought up from my old home in the Underground, it works with fire magic, so it stays pretty clean.” She stepped aside so you could look inside the oven. It was already heated to the recipe’s temperature. Did all monsters have magic this this?

“Woah…” was all you could say.

“I sometimes forget that humans lack magical abilities now. Long ago, they would use their soul’s power as magic through certain objects, but from what Frisk tells me, that is no longer the case.” Toriel had a hint of sadness in her voice. “It was so long ago that we were trapped down there…so much has changed.”

You closed the oven and stood up, but couldn’t bring yourself to look at Toriel, so you kept looking down at the stove. “Once humans realized they didn’t need magic to cause pain to one another, we slowly forgot how to use that power…so many wars, so much anger and fear.” You finally turned and placed a hand on her shoulder, but kept your gaze down. “H-humans are awful…” your voice cracked, you could feel tears start to pool up on your lower eyelids…you were such a crybaby sometimes.

Toriel wrapped her arms around you, and brought you in close for a hug. “Not all humans…” You wiped your eyes embarrassed, but Toriel remained smiling gently. “I’ll put on some tea, I’d love to tell you our story.


	2. Wait, What?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You learn more about your brother, and yourself...

You had only ever heard the human’s side of what happened to monsters…but hearing Toriel describe being trapped in the Underground made you so upset. It was so petty and unfair…She was starting to describe the humans that fell after she fled the castle. Your tea was still too hot to drink, so you listened closely to every detail she had to offer.

            “As you know, 6 humans fell down to the Underground before Frisk.” She blew across the top of the mug, and took a sip of tea. “If I may ask…since you are from this area, how did humans treat the mountain after we were sealed?”

            You clung tightly to your mug. “We never forgot that monsters were down there, but many assumed they had perished long ago. Still, there was a stigma against climbing it. Only kids would ever climb it, each with their own reason.”

            Toriel nodded, knowingly. “Indeed, each one was very different from the last.”

            You froze. “You…knew all of them?”

            She sighed, “Yes. I lived very close to where they would fall. Many were a little bruised up, but…each one had a different color of soul, which I thought was peculiar.”

            You furrowed your brows, that was quite convenient. “How long ago did they start coming?” You had only ever heard reports of missing children, but no one ever knew which ones were claimed by the mountain.

            “Probably about 40 years ago, about one every five or so years, give or take. Before Frisk, the last one was…oh… maybe ten years ago?”

            Ten years. “Was…was it a boy? Was it a boy with a yellow soul?” Your hands began to quiver, just enough that a little bit of hot tea splashed onto your hand. You didn’t care.

            “Y…yes, _______...” Toriel’s face became nervous.

            You set the tea down on the coffee table, and then looked back at her. “I’m…I’m sorry, can I use your bathroom?”

            You could see she wanted to ask you to sit back down, but she nodded. You slowly went into the bathroom and clicked the lock. You sat on the toilet with the seat down, and covered you face with your hands. It had to have been him. That means he was gone.

            You sat very still, letting your mind swim with questions. Screaming, crying…yelling…all inside your head. You were almost…relieved in a way. You lost track of time, until a knock came at the door.

            “Hey, _____, you’ve been in there a while. Everything all right?” It was Sans.

            You rubbed your eyes, stood up, and opened the door. “Ummm…sorta?” You stepped out of the bathroom, noticing that Frisk looked like they needed to use the bathroom.

            “Toriel explained what you two were talking about…did you know him?”

            You nodded.

            “Was he your brother?”

            You nodded again, squeezing your eyes shut and you tried to hide it by covering your face with your hands again. Suddenly, you felt Toriel hug you from the side. “He was a very good child. So brave, always saying he had someone to get back to.” You felt your knees give out, and Sans caught you, lowering you gently to the floor. Toriel kneeled down in front of you, holding your face with her hands as she tried to get you to look at her. It didn’t work. “He said he ran away, and at first, was upset because he thought that someone abandoned him.”

            “Before Asgore took his soul, he had realized they didn’t mean to, and he just wanted to go back…”

            The tears you had been trying to subdue finally broke through and started streaming down your face, along with a few loud sobs.

            “It’s not your fault, _____. I wish I could have stopped him.” Toriel said softly. It didn’t matter, you were torn apart. You felt an ache ripple through your body, and suddenly, Toriel and Sans backed away from you. You opened your eyes, and saw that your chest seemed to glow a deep green with every breath you took. You could hear Sans mutter “huh” as you tried to calm yourself down. You heard the bathroom door open, and then felt Frisk hug you from behind.

            “He…helped me in the end. Your brother helped save us all. They all did.” Frisk said. You took a deep breath, and the bright light from your soul finally faded back to normal. You held their small hands that wrapped around your shoulders.

            “Thank you.”

            Toriel stood up and thanked Papyrus for taking the lasagna out of the oven. Everyone quietly sat at the dining table. Each one was served a slice, and Toriel sighed as she took the first bite.

            “Well…since we are _pasta_ introductions, you don’t you tell us about yourself, ______?” He winked, Papyrus nudged him.

            “SANS!” Papyrus nearly yelled, which made Frisk giggle.

            A smile broke through, and you lifted your fork to start eating the lasagna. “I…work at the local college’s library. I have for a few years. It’s a pretty good job, and since this building is pretty affordable I can pay my debt to the college for my tuition.”

            “Oh! Do you like reading?” Toriel asked, happy that you were opening up.

            “Umm, yea, I guess. It’s a good job. I wouldn’t say I’m passionate about it, but, it’s pretty nice.” You took a bite of the lasagna. It tasted amazing compared to your cooking.

            “Well, I would love to have you come and visit the school I’m opening and talk about books, if you ever have the time.” Toriel gestured to Papyrus, “Papyrus here will also be helping me with the school, along with Asg-…my ex-husband.” She bit her lip, hoping you wouldn’t realize her slip-up. She had already told you she had been the queen, but you didn’t realize Asgore and her were partners… “I hope that does not sour your opinion of me, _______.”

            You shook your head, “of course not.”

            The rest of the dinner you talked about being in a foster home, going off to college, your ex-boyfriends terrible influence. You helped Toriel clean the table while Papyrus and Sans entertained Frisk. Later on, they put on a movie, and pretty soon it was 9pm.

            “C’mon Frisk, it’s time for bed.” Toriel cooed, “Papyrus, please, they need to settle down or they will never get to sleep!”

            Frisk rans in circles around the taller skeleton, winding a long ribbon around him. “I WILL CERTAINLY TRY, MADAM!” He cleared his throat, “AHEM! HUMAN! I MUST CAPTURE YOU!” He tried hopping toward Frisk with his bound legs, but he ended up falling over. Frisk had run into the kitchen and back, and then bumped into Sans.

            “Hey buddy…are you ready for a… _bed_ time?” Sans raised one of his hands from his hoodie’s pocket, and Frisk’s body was surrounded by a pale blue glow. They floated off the ground by about a foot, and tried squirming back to the floor. “C’mon, say goodnight to ______, kid.”

            “Good niiiiiiight.” Frisk said, finally giving in to a large yawn. Sans set them down so they sleepily stepped into their bedroom.

            “Have a lovely evening, _______. I hope you will come by again soon!” Toriel waved, and followed Frisk into their bedroom. “Oh, and boys, make sure to shut the door tight on your way out. I’ll lock it once you have left.

            “Will do, Tori.” Sans replied, while trying to unwind the ribbon around his brother’s legs. “Hey Pap, you got that kid _wrapped_ around your finger, huh?” Sans giggled at his own silly joke, you did too.

            “INDEED! FRISK AND I HAVE BECOME QUITE CLOSE! I AM ALL THE MORE EXCITED ABOUT HELPING AT THE SCHOOL WHEN IT OPENS NEXT MONTH!” Papyrus, finally free, stood up and posed. “ALL RIGHT, BROTHER! WE MUST UNPACK OUR OWN STUFF, NOW!”

            “Awww, Papyrus, it’s already pretty late, let’s do it tomorrow.” Sans motioned for you to follow him as they made their way out of the apartment. Sans double checked that the door was closed behind you all, and flicked his fingers, and the lock on the door clicked. You stared at him for a moment.

            “Oh, yeah, probably should’ve let Tori do that…” Sans shrugged as they went to the stairs to go up a floor.

            “That’s a pretty crazy kind of magic, Sans. Papyrus, can you do that too?”

            Papyrus, who had already reached the top of the stairs called down, “NOT EXACTLY, SANS AND I HAVE MUCH DIFFERENT POWERS.”

            “Uh huh…” You looked back at Sans. What were they capable of?

            The three of you reach the top of the stairs, and you turned to open you own apartment as they went into theirs.

            “Goodnight, guys!”

            “GOODNIGHT, ________ THE HUMAN!” Papyrus said, disappearing into the apartment.

            Sans reached into his pocket and grabbed his phone. “Hey, can we have your number if we have any questions? We’re still pretty new to the area and all…”

            You nodded, “Of course, here…” you pulled out your phone, and the two of you exchanged phone to input your numbers.

            “Great, thanks. Good night!” Both of you were going into your respective apartments, when “wait. Um…” You turned around.

            “Yeah?”

            “You wouldn’t happen to have any ketchup, would you? I meant to pick some up before we loaded up the truck this morning.”

            “I…ummm, here, come in while I look.” You held the door open for him and he followed you into your small kitchen.

            “This looks a lot different from our apartment…” he remarked.

            You dug through a few cabinets and drawers for the condiment. “Uhh, yeah, mine hasn’t been renovated like the rest of the building, I can only afford this unit so they are going to update it when I leave.” You opened another drawer, and dug into the back. “I don’t mind it so mu- ah ha!” You held out about a dozen ketchup packets in your hands. “I knew I still had some!” You looked at your hands, a little taken aback. “Umm…”

            “Sorry, yeah, they are fine. I wasn’t sure if you had a whole bottle, I’ll buy you a new one.” Geez, did he need ketchup that badly?

            “Oh, uh, yeah.” You put the packets on the counter, and reached into one of the overhead cabinets. There was an unopened bottle of ketchup on the top shelf, but you couldn’t reach it. You got up on your toes, and was able to knock it off the shelf with one of your fingers. You caught it, and handed it to him.

            “Thanks! I’ll get you more, sorry, I… like to drink it.” He said.

            He…what?? “Oh…uuuhh, all right! Take the packets too, if you’d like.” He grabbed a handful of them and put them in his pocket.

            “Well, see ya around, _______.” He closed your door, and you heard him and Papyrus talked loudly across the hall.

            What.

 

 

            You put on a polka-dot night shirt, and crawled under your favorite plush comforter. You grabbed one of your pillows and held it as you rolled onto your side. You couldn’t sleep without holding something most nights, it made you feel too lonely. You could hear someone talking on the other side of the wall that your bed was up against; Sans’s room must’ve been adjacent to yours.

            You drifted off to sleep a little after midnight, but slept pretty lightly. You still had so many questions for your new monster friends, but didn’t want to accidentally offend them…but you were so curious.

            ---          -----                -------

            You woke up, and looked over at the clock, _3:45am_. Ugh, why were you awake so early. You decided to pull open your laptop and started browsing. Social media, email, travel websites. You didn’t want much, but one day you really wanted to travel and see the world. You had been stuck in this area your whole life.

            Suddenly, you heard something _thud_ against the wall, and then a piercing, pained scream which made you jump and make loud squeak, and then you heard another _thud_. You jumped out of bed, and went across the hallway, and knocked on the door to the skeletons’ apartment. You heard some talking inside, but you were patient. After a minute or so, Papyrus came to the door. His usual loud, triumphant voice was now quiet and sleepy.

            “I’m so sorry that woke you up, please don’t report us to the landlord, Sans is-”

            “Is he okay?” you asked nervously. Papyrus’s worried expression settled a little.

            “Ummm, he will be. This isn’t the first time this has happened, but it hasn’t happened since we first got to the surface.” He stepped inside, and you were close behind. He continued as the two of you walked to Sans’s room, “he gets terrified waking up in an unfamiliar place.” Papyrus knocked on the door. “Hey, Sans, ________ came to make sure you are okay.” Papyrus placed a hand on your shoulder. “I hope you do not mind, but I need to get back to bed, I promised to help some of our other friends move tomorrow, and I cannot be late!” He raised his fist in the air majestically, and then used the same hand to cover his teeth as he yawned. “Good night, Sans.”

            You carefully stepped into the room; Sans was huddled up on the bed, still shaking a little. It wasn’t until you were about two steps away that Sans looked up at you. There were tears pouring out of his eye sockets, the liquid was blue and almost looked like it was glowing.

            “I’m glad you are all right,” you jumped up onto the bed next to him. “You sounded like you were in so much pain, before.”

            The lights in his eyes grew a little large, almost their usual size. “Did I wake you?”

            You shook your head, “No…but…” you knocked against the wall. “I’m right on the other side, and I got really worried.”

            He sighed in relief, and you noticed underneath his t-shirt there was a blue glow that faded in and out. You raised a hand to your own chest; a similar sort of thing happened to you when you were all at Toriel’s apartment. Sans noticed, and shifted so he was facing you directly. “How much do you know about souls?” he asked.

            “Very little…I knew my brother’s was yellow, I’m not sure why…”

            “Souls react to certain states of mind, usually when you experience extreme emotions. Human souls are different colors, most monsters have white souls…but a few of us don’t. We aren’t sure why.” You were still very confused. “Green means kindness.”

            You looked up at him, “what?”

            “Earlier, your soul…the more vibrant the color, the more powerful the soul is.” He rubbed the back of his skull. “At least, that’s what I think it means. It may be different for humans I guess.”

            “H-huh…I didn’t even know what color it was before today…” You rubbed your hands together to warm them up a little, his bedroom was a little chilly with the breeze coming through the window.

            “There is something different about your soul though.” He said blankly.

            You looked at him, a little nervous, “How do you mean?”

            “For humans, usually all of the power and energy is concentrated in the chest, near the heart...but yours…” he was extremely hesitant, like he was going to tell you something scary. “Your fingertips were a little green early…”

            “WHAT?”


End file.
